Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office

                                 25 Kirkpatrick Street, 3rd Floor, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08901 (732) 745-3300

 

                                *News Release*           Date: April 30, 2010
 
 

       

 

 

 

 

 

Teacher pleads guilty to credit card theft

 

 

          Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan today announced that a

South Brunswick High School English teacher has pleaded guilty to taking credit cards from two co-workers and running up a bill of about $300.

 

Jill Zell (DOB 4/19/53) of the Dayton section of South Brunswick, pleaded guilty on April 29, 2010, to two counts of fraudulent use of the credit cards.

 

Under a plea agreement reached with Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Manuel Sameiro, the defendant faces a probationary term of up to five years when she is sentenced on July 26 by Superior Court Judge Frederick P. DeVesa at the Middlesex County Courthouse in New Brunswick.

 

Zell also will be required to make restitution and must resign her teaching post. She also will be barred from holding any public job in the future.

 

          Zell was arrested and charged on December 22, 2009, following an investigation by Detective Peter Burdick of the South Brunswick Police Department.

 

          The investigation showed Zell took credit cards, one on November 24, 2009, the other on December 12, 2009, from two other teachers and used the cards to make personal purchases at a variety of stores.

 

After the charges were filed, Zell was suspended with pay, and then was suspended without pay after she pleaded guilty.